Abstract
ABSTRACT This article takes as its point of departure the political work of the English novel in both accompanying and arguably catalysing the expansion of the public sphere in the 18th/19th centuries through the enfranchisement of an ever-expanding range of previously marginalized voices. The representation of first-person testimony was crucial to this achievement, enabling the novel genre to function as a paralegal petition for the pursuit of an ever more equitable polity. Taking as its point of departure novels which revisit criminal trials and scenes of testimonial reception preserved in the colonial archives, the article considers the representation of Indigenous characters in contemporary novels by non-Indigenous Tasmanian authors (including Richard Flanagan and Rohan Wilson) and argues for the ethical effectiveness of their formal choices. Despite the risks involved in the representation of Indigenous voice, these novels ask important questions about the English legal system and its transplantation to Australian shores.
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